Singing Guide: Gram Parsons
Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources
Gram Parsons was one of the most influential singers of the late 60s and early 70s. He is known for his unique blend of country, rock, and soul music. His vocal range was considered as a high baritone, which he expertly utilized to create an emotional impact on his audience.
One of the signature vocal techniques that Gram Parsons used was his ability to convey emotion through his voice. This technique is especially evident in his rendition of "In My Hour of Darkness." The way he sings reveals a rawness and vulnerability that captures the listener's attention. Another song that highlights his unique vocal technique was "Love Hurts," where he uses his high baritone range to convey the pain and heartache of the lyrics.
To learn to sing like Gram Parsons, you will need to master some essential vocal techniques like breathing, voice registers, and vocal health. To begin, you can perform the Farinelli breathing exercise from Singing Carrots to help improve your breath support. A useful article to read from Singing Carrots about breathing basics and passive breathing is also available.
For vocal registers, it is essential to understand the difference between registers like chest voice, head voice, and mixed voice. The video on singing comfort zone and the video on voice break are great resources that elaborate more on chest voice/mixed voice and the voice register breakdown.
Vocal health cannot be overemphasized when learning to sing like Gram Parsons. A great article to check out that covers this topic is Vocal Health: Prevent Damage & Develop Healthy Habits on Singing Carrots. You also need to learn how to sing with vibrato, articulation, and how to avoid constrictions during singing.
Singing Carrots has Vocal Pitch Monitor and Pitch Training - Educational Singing Game to help you identify your vocal strengths and improve your pitch accuracy. You can also use the search songs by vocal range tool to find songs that match your vocal range and genre preference.
In summary, to sing like Gram Parsons, you must master important techniques like breath control, voice registers, vibrato, and vocal health. Singers can draw inspiration from his ability to convey emotion through his voice while staying true to his country-soul music style. Utilizing the relevant resources at Singing Carrots will help you achieve your goal of learning to sing like a music legend.